Adventures in the Snow--Dec. 16, 2006

Our Winter Wonderland
So, when we last left you the girls were supposed to call and tell me what time their exhibition team was performing. Alyssa did call, but the reception was so bad that I thought she said 2:30 when she really said 1:30. At about 1:45 she text messaged me (realized calling wasn't working) to say that they had already performed. We were just getting ready to leave. Aaaagh! So I have no drill meet pictures. She said they would be done at about 3:30 and they needed a ride. Okay...we will leave at about 3pm to pick her up.

I looked outside at 3pm and it is snowing. Okay, it had said it was going to snow, but I hadn't paid a lot of attention. That's all right; maybe it will take us a little extra time to get there. Sammy, Tara and I pile into the car and off to the school we go. We took the Volvo (mistake) because we are low on fuel in the Excursion and I didn't want to have to get fuel (it takes diesel and that means going to the diesel gas station, which is not as convenient) plus it doesn't get as good of gas mileage as the Volvo. It took us 1 1/2 hours just to get to the school because traffic was going 15-20 mph because of the slick road conditions. And it was really slick!!!! The girls kept calling to see when we were coming and Sammy gave them updates as to where we were. Fortunately, a friend waited with them and let them sit in his car because they had closed the school. They kept asking me if they should get a ride home, but because I was already out and everyone they would have gotten a ride from has only had their drivers license for about 3-6 months, I just couldn't let them go home with these kids in the bad conditions.

Finally, I got to pick them up and we start heading home. Tara pops up with, "I have to go to the bathroom." We have to find a place to stop because if it takes us as long to get home as it took to get here, she couldn't hold it. We stopped at Jack in the Box and Sammy took her in to go potty and got a drink for herself and us to share. Back on the road we go...we were slipping and sliding all over and still going 15 mph. The Volvo is not the best snow car and I even had it in Wet Driving Condition mode! I got to one point on the road and it was slightly uphill and we were stuck because it was so slippery and we couldn't get traction. I kept trying to pull forward a little at a time and turn the wheel and we went about 6 inches each time we pulled forward. It took us 30 minutes just to go a few yards, but we finally got to where we weren't totally stuck. I was getting stressed out and hot and made the girls turn off the heater and even roll down the windows. They were all freezing and complaining. We finally made it back to the freeway and all the way down to our exit without too much trouble...just slow going. I knew that our street would not be easy to drive up because it is a steep hill and I couldn't stop(I can't wait until we move and are not on this hill). I finally made it to the house and pulled in the driveway and we slid right back out of the driveway (our driveway is really steep too). I then was stuck in the road and finally backed down enough so I am not in the middle of the street, but I am parallel parked partly on the sidewalk as my car wouldn't stop sliding. I will try to move it later today, but we left it there as we were stuck and couldn't move any more and since it was in a safe place from being hit by another car I gave up.


My "lovely" parking job

Tim laughed at my parking job when we got home, but said what else could we have done. He said even with the 4WD truck, he was having trouble last night so no wonder we had trouble in the Volvo. I do love that car except in the snow.

BTW, the girls' Exhibition team got 4th place yesterday and their Regulation team got 2nd place...not too shabby. The boys got 1st place in Exhibition and Jenna and Alyssa said their routine was awesome! I wish I could have seen it.

Today Tim went to work. He is not looking forward to all of the accidents, etc. he knows they will have today with the slippery conditions. That leaves me with shoveling the snow. I decided to miss church this morning in favor of shoveling snow and not driving in the slick conditions. I hate missing church, but know there won't be too many people there because it is so slick. Actually, I don't mind shoveling so much because I get to be all by myself outside and it isn't too heavy of snow right now. I will wait until the sun has had a chance to be out a little before I start. Sammy and Jenna decided they would walk to church (it is only a mile away). Alyssa said she is too tired after yesterday and Tara wanted to go, but it would be too hard for her to walk all that way in the snow so she is watching Christmas movies this morning.

Today should be a day of finishing Christmas cards and finishing shopping online (I am so glad I have Amazon Prime this year with two-day shipping) besides the shoveling. I need to take the Christmas picture of the girls, edit it and print it in order to get my cards out.